Sen Tom Coburn

[rgcraig]

Is this true?




I don't care if you are a Demorcrat. or Republician. This is worth

reading and shows us where our taxes are going.

Neither party is lily white in this issue, but it has to stop somewhere!

Tom Coburn is an Medicial Doctor(general practitioner). He's the

Rep. Sen. from Okla. Google him for his background.

This takes a couple of minutes. It's from his speech in

the Senate yesterday (2/9). If this doesn't raise your blood

pressure, you'd better just stay at home. I understand

that people trying to call the Senate today were getting an

'all circuits are busy' message. Wonder why!!!!!!!!



His Speech............................................ .............



"We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought

to be standing on the principles that made this country

great. There ought to be a review of every program in the

Federal Government that is not effective, that is not

efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and we ought to

get rid of it right now. We ought to say, Gone, to be able

to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have

some impact.



I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next

week we are going to hear from the Obama administration

wanting another $500 billion. Outside of this, they are

going to want another $500 billion to handle the banking

system. Still not fixing the real disease-the pneumonia-we

are going to treat the fever or treat the cough, but we are

not going to treat the real disease. Until we treat the real

disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than pure waste. It

is morally reprehensible, because it steals the future of

the next two generations.



I am going to wind up here and finish, but I wanted to

spend some time to make sure the American people know what

is in this bill. I think once they know what is in this

bill, they are going to reject it out of hand. Let me read

for my colleagues some of the things that are in this bill.

The biggest earmark in history is in this bill. There is $2

billion in this bill to build a coal plant with zero

emissions. That would be great, maybe, if we had the

technology, but the greatest brains in the world sitting at

MIT say we don't have the technology yet to do that. Why

would we build a $2 billion powerplant we don't have the

technology for that we know will come back and ask for

another $2 billion and another $2 billion and another $2

billion when we could build a demonstration project that

might cost $150 million or $200 million? There is nothing

wrong with having coal-fired plants that don't produce

pollution; I am not against that. Even the Washington Post

said the technology isn't there. It is a boondoggle. Why

would we do that?



We eliminated tonight a $246 million payback for the large

movie studios in Hollywood .



We are going to spend $88 million to study whether we ought

to buy a new ice breaker for the Coast Guard. You know what.

The Coast Guard needs a new ice breaker. Why do we need to

spend $88 million? They have two ice breakers now that they

could retrofit and fix and come up with equivalent to what

they needed to and not spend the $1 billion they are going

to come back and ask for, for another ice breaker, so why

would we spend $88 million doing that?



We are going to spend $448 million to build the Department

of Homeland Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion

worth of empty buildings right now, and because it has been

blocked in Congress we can't sell them, we can't

raze them, we can't do anything, but we are going to

spend money on a new building here in Washington . We are

going to spend another $248 million for new furniture for

that building; a quarter of a billion dollars for new

furniture. What about the furniture the Department of

Homeland Security has now? These are tough times. Should we

be buying new furniture? How about using what we have? That

is what a family would do. They would use what they have.

They wouldn't go out and spend $248 million on

furniture.



How about buying $600 million worth of hybrid vehicles? Do

you know what I would say? Right now times are tough; I

would rather Americans have new cars than Federal employees

have new cars. What is wrong with the cars we have? Dumping

$600 million worth of used vehicles on the used vehicle

market right now is one of the worst things we could do.

Instead, we are going to spend $600 million buying new cars

for Federal employees.



There is $400 million in here to prevent STDs. I have a lot

of experience on that. I have delivered 4,000 babies. We

don't need to spend $400 million on STDs. What we need

to do is properly educate about the infection rates and the

effectiveness of methods of prevention. That doesn't

take a penny more. You can write that on one piece of paper

and teach every kid in this country, but we don't need

to spend $400 million on it. It is not a priority.



How about $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs?

That might even be somewhat stimulative. New sewers. That

might create jobs.



How about $150 million for a Smithsonian museum? Tell me

how that helps get us out of a recession. Tell me how that

is a priority. Would the average American think that is a

priority that we ought to be mortgaging our kids' future

to spend another $150 million at the Smithsonian?



How about $1 billion for the 2010 census? So everybody

knows, the census is so poorly managed that the census this

year is going to cost twice-in 2010 is going to cost twice

what it cost 10 years ago, and we wasted $800 million on a

contract because it was no-bid that didn't perform.

Nobody got fired, no competitive bidding, and we blew $800

million.



We have $75 million for smoking cessation activities, which

probably is a great idea, but we just passed a bill-the

SCHIP bill-that we need to get 21 million more Americans

smoking to be able to pay for that bill. That doesn't

make sense.



How about $200 million for public computer centers at

community colleges? Since when is a community college in my

State a recipient of Federal largesse? Is that our

responsibility? I mean, did we talk with Dell and

Hewlett-Packard and say, How do we make you all do better?

Is there not a market force that could make that better?

Will we actually buy on a true competitive bid? No, because

there is nothing that requires competitive bidding in

anything in this bill. There is nothing that requires it. It

is one of the things President Obama said he was going to

mandate at the Federal Government, but there is no

competitive bidding in this bill at all.



We have $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas. Well,

that will put 10 or 15 people to work. Is that a priority

for us right now?



There is $6 billion to turn Federal buildings into green

buildings. That is a priority, versus somebody getting a job

outside of Washington , a job that actually produces

something, that actually increases wealth?



How about $500 million for State and local fire stations?

Where do you find in the Constitution us paying for local

fire stations within our realm of prerogatives? None of it

is competitively bid-not a grant program.



Next is $1.2 billion for youth activities. Who does that

employ? What does that mean?



How about $88 million for renovating the public health

service building? You know, if we could sell half of the

$1.3 trillion worth of properties we have, we could take

care of every Federal building requirement and backlog we

have.

con't

[rgcraig]

Then there's $412 million for CDC buildings and

property. We spent billions on a new center and headquarters

for CDC. Is that a priority? Building another Government

building instead of-if we are going to spend $412 million on

building buildings, let's build one that will produce

something, one that will give us something.



How about $850 million for that most ``efficient''

Amtrak that hasn't made any money since 1976 and

continues to have $2 billion or $3 billion a year in

subsidies?



Here is one of my favorites: $75 million to construct a new

``security training'' facility for State Department

security officers, and we have four other facilities already

available to train them. But it is not theirs. They want

theirs. By the way, it is going to be in West Virginia . I

wonder how that got there. So we are going to build a new

training facility that duplicates four others that we

already have that could easily do what we need to do. But

because we have a stimulus package, we are going to add in

oink pork.



How about $200 million in funding for a lease-not buying,

but a lease of alternative energy vehicles on military

installations? We are going to bail out the States on

Medicaid. Total all of the health programs in this, and we

are going to transfer $150 billion out of the private sector

and we are going to move it to the Federal Government. You

talk about backdooring national health care. Henry Waxman

has to be smiling big today. He wants a single-payer

Government-run health care system. We are going to move

another $150 billion to the Federal Government from the

private sector.



We are going to eliminate fees on loans from the Small

Business Administration. You know what that does? That

pushes productive capital to unproductive projects. It is

exactly the wrong thing to do.



Then there is $160 million to the Job Corps Program-but not

for jobs and not to put more people in the Job Corps but to

construct or repair buildings.



We are going to spend $524 million for information

technology upgrades that the Appropriations Committee claims

will create 388 jobs. If you do the math on that, that is

$1.5 million a job. Don't you love the efficiency of

Washington thinking?



We are going to create $79 billion in additional money for

the States, a ``slush fund,'' to bail out States and

provide millions of dollars for education costs. How many of

you think that will ever go away? Once the State education

programs get $79 billion over 2 years, do you think that

will ever go away? The cry and hue of taking our money

away-even though it was a stimulus and supposed to be

limited, it will never go away. So we will continue putting

that forward until our kids have grandkids of their own.



There is about $47 billion for a variety of energy programs

that are primarily focused on renewable energy. I am fine

with spending that. But we ought to get something for it.

There ought to be metrics. There are no metrics. It is pie

in the sky, saying we will throw some money at it. Let me

conclude by saying we are at a seminal moment in our

country. We will either start living within the confines of

realism and responsibility or we will blow it and we will

create the downfall of the greatest Nation that ever lived.

This bill is the start of that downfall. To abandon a

market-oriented society and transfer it to a Soviet-style,

government-centered, bureaucratic-run and mandated program,

that is the thing that will put the stake in the heart of

freedom in this country.



I hope the American people know what is in this bill. I am

doing everything I can to make sure they know. But more

important, I hope somebody is listening who will treat the

``pneumonia'' we are faced with today, which is the

housing and mortgage markets. It doesn't matter how much

money we spend in this bill. It is doomed to failure unless

we fix that problem first. Failing that, we will go down in

history as the Congress that undermined the future and

vitality of this country. Let it not be so.

[rgcraig]

Not sure that email is correct, but I did find this on his website:

Dr. Coburn Statement Opposing Passage of Stimulus Bill
Urges President and Congress to cut earmarks from bill


February 10, 2009


(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today after voting against the so-called stimulus bill.

“Instead of writing a bill that will work, Congress passed a bill that puts the ideological interests of one party ahead of the economic interests of the nation. The foundational principles behind this bill were tried and failed in the 1930’s. This bill represents the worst act of generational theft in our history. This bill will add $10,800 of debt to every American family with little hope of a return on our investment. If the economy improves it will be in spite of, not because of, this bill,” Dr. Coburn said, citing a CBO report that predicts the stimulus bill will cause our GDP to shrink over the long term.

“One reason the public is skeptical of this bill is because bill authors made zero effort to eliminate any wasteful spending to help pay for this package even though Congress wastes at least $300 billion every year. Few families in America have the luxury of avoiding tough economic choices. Yet, career politicians in Congress refused to make any tough choices because they didn’t want to offend the special interest groups that finance their campaigns. The bill also includes a grossly irresponsible bailout to states that will reward states that refused to live within their means while punishing states like Oklahoma that planned ahead and set up rainy day funds to make it through economic downturns. When this bill becomes law, states will no longer have the incentive to live within their means because they'll assume the federal government will be there to bail them out,” Dr. Coburn said.

“This package continues to divide Congress and the country because it is 90 percent social policy and 10 percent economic policy. Congress could have passed a bipartisan bill that was truly focused on stimulating our economy and job creation in the short-term. Instead, this bill is packed with policy changes that should have been debated in another context,” Dr. Coburn said.

“For instance, this bill lays the groundwork for a Soviet-style Federal Health Board that will put bureaucrats and politicians in charge of our nation’s health care system. In other countries like the United Kingdom, such boards have led to health care rationing and greatly reduced cure rates for diseases like breast cancer. As a practicing physician, I believe we should trust doctors and patients, not politicians and lobbyists, to make decisions about the cost and effectiveness of health care products and treatments. Greatly expanding government’s control over health care under the guise of information technology development will create a severe backlash among the American people,” Dr. Coburn said.

“Finally, as the House and Senate resolve the differences between the competing bills, I would urge President Obama to force Congress to remove the earmarks from this bill and ensure that Congress retains my amendment that requires contracts to go through a competitive bidding process. What matters more than the back and forth in Washington about the definition of earmarks is how the American people will react when they discover the egregious pork projects and special interest provisions in this bill. Republicans underestimated the public’s disgust with politics as usual earmarking. I hope the President and congressional Democrats will learn from our mistakes. If history is any guide, a bill of this magnitude will lead to considerable waste and embarrassment to its authors if we fail to build in accountability, competition and transparency into the process now,” Dr Coburn said.

http://coburn.senate.gov/public/inde...4eb2&Issue_id=

[A.W. Bowman]

Quick, pass the bill. Do it now! Don’t look at it’s provisions or its costs, don't question it, just pass it. We need it now, or it will be too late. Hurry! Don't analyze it and don’t debate it, don’t even think about it, just vote for it.

The object:

The package was not intended to stimulate the economy, but to make everyone feel better about it while our politicians finish burying the economy - and our country (as we have known it) along with it.

[Cindy]

Yep, but we have taxation with representation right? We just have incompetent representation. Can't we fire them?

[Jaxon]

I respect Senator Coburn by more than any other.

He could make far more money as an obsterician, But he's quite a guy. He's the one

who stood up to corrupt Sen Stevens on the "bridge to nowhere". Very few senators

would take on Ted Stevens at that time. But Tom Coburn did. He wasn't intimidated.

[Jermyn Davidson]

Beyond the sewers project, is there anything in this stimulus package that would help create jobs, en masse, for our countrymen?

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by Jermyn Davidson

Beyond the sewers project, is there anything in this stimulus package that would help create jobs, en masse, for our countrymen?

There is one billion dollar project in here that is projected to provide a hundred or so jobs. cost per job exceeds a million bucks a year!

nice.


This bill is NOT about jobs. It is a pay back to liberals for getting Obama elected... at best... at worst it is Obamas opening salvo to re-set america on a left track.

Obama is a facist and America is slouching towards facisim.

[Aquila]

If Obama were a fascist, he'd certainly let these private industries fail and then use the outcry and hardship after their collapse to nationalize vast sectors of the economy. The bailout is actually a strategy that could preserve the private market because once our economy stabilizes, in theory; these private industries will still be standing.

Get real people. Obama is left of center and yes, he’s a social liberal. No doubt about that. However, to call him a fascist is to exaggerate and disregard the real evil of real fascism. It’s like when people compare Bush to Hitler. Get real. Bush was bad, but nowhere near as bad as Hitler. I got sick of that comparison after everyone was comparing Bush’s consolidation of power after 9/11 to Hitler’s consolidation of power after the burning of the Reichstag. Why do we act like emotional little children throwing the most outlandish accusations at our political enemies? Obama is a liberal… but a fascist. Sometimes I feel like hoping that we’d get a REAL fascist as a President so that some of these Chicken Littles could learn what it’s like to face REAL fascism. We are in a crisis. Hush and allow the New President to navigate us out of this. These industries SHOULDN’T BE IN THE WATER TO BEGIN WITH…now please stop complaining about Obama throwing them a life line.

Frankly, I think some of those who are chanting the right wing mantra against this bailout package are the real fascists. I wouldn’t be surprised if they secretly want these industries to fail so that we are forced to nationalize them.

Now let's not call our President a fascist in a time of a national economic crisis.

[MikeinAR]

Originally Posted by Ferd

There is one billion dollar project in here that is projected to provide a hundred or so jobs. cost per job exceeds a million bucks a year!

nice.


This bill is NOT about jobs. It is a pay back to liberals for getting Obama elected... at best... at worst it is Obamas opening salvo to re-set america on a left track.

Obama is a facist and America is slouching towards facisim.

Just to be clear Ferd, you're claiming that the Stimulus Act is only going to create 100 jobs?